Romani (also spelt Romany) belongs to the Indo-Aryan group of the Indo-European family of languages. It is spoken by c. 4 million people as their first or second language in many parts of Europe (now mostly in the Balkans), but also in the Middle East, the USA, and South America. The language comes from the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent and is closely related to Punjabi and Hindi, sharing the common features with Sanskrit as well; also called Gypsy.
The language is spoken in a wide range of dialects worldwide, often mutually unintelligible. Kalderash and Arlija are probably the main ones for literary purposes, but Lovari and Sinti are also important. Local varieties tend to be strongly influenced (especially in vocabulary) by other languages with which the Romani populations come into contact. When written, Romany uses the alphabet of the locality, generally Roman or Cyrillic, but it is essentially a spoken language, with a rich oral literature.
CLASSIFICATION = Indo-European family , SCRIPT = Roman and Cyrillic
